Coupang is building the future of commerce globally, and we are achieving this through a customer-centric engineering approach. We sat down with Ritesh, to learn how we fuel our success, and the exciting opportunities for engineers at the India Dev Center.
Hello Ritesh, thank you for your time. Can you introduce yourself?
Thank you for having me. As Engineering leader at Coupang, I drive Taiwan business, focusing on supply chain management, marketing systems, fraud detection, and post-purchase customer experiences.
I enjoy building high-performing, healthy global teams where individuals can achieve their aspirations while delivering meaningful business impact. I’m also deeply passionate about technology, having worked across major waves of innovation— from mainframes to AI. While the internet, mobile, and cloud were transformative, they now feel like warm-up acts compared to the potential of AI. Technology never has a dull moment and been fortunate to be part of this ever-evolving landscape.
Throughout my career at global technology companies, I learned the power of customer obsession, how to build enterprise-grade reliable software, and how to solve challenges at planetary scale. At Coupang, I’m focused on applying those lessons to build responsible intelligent systems that drive business growth and deliver world-class customer experiences.
You joined Coupang months ago, how did you first learn about Coupang?
I first learned about Coupang through former colleagues who spoke highly of the company’s unwavering commitment to customers—putting them at the center of every decision—and its exceptional talent, which consistently delivers transformative, world-class customer experiences.
Coupang’s rapid growth and success in South Korea and Taiwan had already caught my attention, and its reputation for driving integrated, customer-first outcomes solidified my interest. What truly drew me in was the opportunity to tackle complex, high-impact challenges and contribute to a business with extraordinary growth potential.
The rapid evolution of commerce and market expansion in Asia presents tremendous opportunities, and Coupang is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation. Its strategic vision, innovative culture, and relentless focus on delivering customer value made joining the company an easy and exciting decision.
How does the India Dev Center contribute to Coupang’s success?
The India Dev Center is integral to Coupang’s global strategy, driving high-impact, strategic initiatives from India. Rather than working on reactive or operational tasks, teams in India focus on strategic priorities that align with Coupang's long-term vision. Coupang has also built a robust talent ecosystem in India, providing individuals with opportunities to achieve their career aspirations while contributing meaningfully to company success.
A key focus of the India Dev Center is localizing the customer experience for the Taiwan market. As an example, the team has developed solutions to improve translation accuracy, leveraging image-text multimodal large language models, fine-tuning, and data augmentation to deliver a customer experience tailored to regional needs.
At the India Dev Center, teams have full ownership and autonomy over their projects, ensuring alignment with Coupang’s broader goals. Engineers, Product Owners, and Program Managers define their own roadmaps and charters, delivering solutions that have a direct and measurable impact on customer experiences.
What challenges come with this growth?
Coupang entered the Taiwan market two years ago with a commitment to delivering the same exceptional experience that customers enjoy in South Korea. As we scale and grow in Taiwan, we are continually improving our agility to meet the unique needs of this dynamic market.
This growth requires deep globalization of Coupang’s technology stack to address differences in language, time zones, currencies, legal and compliance frameworks, and more. At the same time, we are adapting and localizing our systems to meet the specific demands of the Taiwan market. Currently, we are driving several critical initiatives to globalize Coupang’s systems, ensuring they are not only scalable but also capable of delivering seamless, localized customer experiences across markets.
What sets Coupang apart from its competitors in India, and what advice would you give to aspiring engineers?
What truly sets Coupang apart is its ability to aim high and find a way to deliver the "wow". We place customers at the center of every decision, starting and ending with their needs, and work backward to deliver jaw-dropping results. We take on challenges that many would consider impossible. At the same time, we embrace growing pains, and acknowledge that mistakes will happen, as we are not afraid of failure. Instead, we find ways to deliver exactly what the customer truly needs.
For aspiring engineers, this is an exciting time to join Coupang, as we drive growth and expand business penetration. If you are passionate about distributed systems, machine learning, and large-scale systems, and want to have the opportunity to work with talented teams that will help you achieve your career goals, Coupang is the place for you.
With a culture deeply rooted in customer satisfaction and a relentless commitment to solving complex challenges, Coupang stands out as the workplace where engineers can make a significant impact. As we continue to grow and innovate, we invite talented individuals to join us on our journey to build the future of commerce together.
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